ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reiterated that only the Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council can determine who is prime minister, Bernama news agency reported.

Tun Dr Mahathir said the suggestion by Opposition MPs that he remains as prime minister until the next general election was only their opinion.

"That is their opinion. The one who will determine is the Pakatan Harapan presidential council. We will decide," Dr Mahathir told a press conference with Malaysian journalists on Sunday (Oct 27) night.

Last week, secretary-general of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) Takiyuddin Hassan said all 18 MPs from the party will back Dr Mahathir should he want to continue as prime minister until the next general election in 2023.

Later six Umno MPs voiced their support for Dr Mahathir too.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir, who is in Turkmenistan for a two-day official visit, said that he could not set a specific time frame for the transition of the country's leadership, Bernama reported.

"I promise I won't stay too long, but I think based on my past experience I can try to correct all the wrongdoings of (former prime minister) Datuk Seri Najib (Tun Razak).

"When I am satisfied, I will not continue. But I cannot give the specific time as the country is in really big trouble that we cannot easily solve. We have a lot of debt and Datuk Najib has damaged the government machinery.

"That and other problems left by Najib, need to be fixed," he said.

Under the Pakatan agreement before the 14th General Election, it was stipulated that Dr Mahathir will be appointed prime minister and that he would later hand over leadership to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. However, no specific time frame was specified.